


Left Behind

by Sonny_Westbrooks



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: A supportive sister figure, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Dialogue Heavy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Multi, Nina is a sister figure to Sonny, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 17:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8499607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonny_Westbrooks/pseuds/Sonny_Westbrooks
Summary: A knock at the door, a confirmation and a small box given over to Usnavi, he wasn’t sure what to do. It was a fairly bland wooden box, not polished, but sanded enough to give it a smooth feeling. His hands shook, placing the box down on the small coffee table in front of the couch. How was he ever going to tell Sonny?





	

**Author's Note:**

> All text in Italics are events in the past/before the funeral.  
> All text that is not in Italics is current time.

Cold air blew through the open window of Sonny’s room, the boy himself curled tightly upon his bed. Usnavi lightly knocked on his door, a soft sigh escaping his lips. “Sonny.” He whispered, slowly walking to Sonny’s bed and sitting down beside him, “Hey bud, how’re you feeling?”   
  
“Like I was just stabbed thousands of times throughout my body.” Sonny croaked, his voice hoarse from crying through the night and day before. “A piece of me being torn from myself.”   
  
Usnavi was unsure what to say next. He feared anything that came from him would hurt Sonny more in some way, and it already hurt seeing his cousin so down. He carefully rubbed his back for support, “His funeral is today...I can’t go but I’m willing to walk you there bud.”    
  
Sonny only curled into a tighter ball, a choked back sob escaping him, “N-no I...I c-can make it there on my own ‘Snavi.” He whimpered, “You got more important things.”    
  
Usnavi nodded, getting up and leaving the room. Sonny once again by himself in the quiet with only the breeze to keep him company.   


* * *

_ “Man Sonshine you don’t even understand! I found the best spot for my next mural. Trust me the whole world is going to see it from where I’m paintin’ it!” Pete exclaimed quite excitedly, waving his hands about with his excitement. “Its high up there too. Someone asked me to paint the wall near their fire escape and I thought it would be nice to try out something different.” _ __  
__  
_ Sonny slightly snorted, shaking his head and patting his lover’s back, “It sounds fun at all but you gotta promise me that you won’t get yourself hurt or anything. I know what its like to fall off a fire escape trust me. Its pretty damn painful.” _ __  
__  
_ “Me? Falling off a fire escape? Pshh Sonny you need to have faith in me!” Pete laughed lightly. Sonny was serious though, and to show he was being serious he gave the other a very serious and worried looking glare. “Sonshine don’t worry. Really I promise you I’ll be safe.” He gently kissed the top of Sonny’s head, taking his hands in his own, “I’m always safe remember? I’ll be back in a day or two when I’m done.” _ __  
__  
_ “Okay.” _ __  


* * *

_ Three weeks had passed since Pete had told Sonny about the painting he was going to create. Within these three weeks Sonny had not at all seen Pete anywhere. “I just don’t understand Nina he said he’d be back in a day or two. He hasn’t been around for weeks!” _ __  
__  
_ Nina continued to stir her small pot of stew on the stove and sighed, “Sonny you worry too much. Sometimes his art takes longer than he expected remember? And it's pretty cold out, he probably has to stay some place down town for now till the weather clears up a little.”  _ __  
__  
_ Sonny huffed, crossing his arms and falling back into Nina’s couch, “I’m seriously really worried Nina! Anything could have happened to him and all I’m doing now is sitting here and waiting for him!” he swiftly pulled a phone out of his pocket and turned it on, “Maybe I should call someone…” _ __  
__  
_ Nina shook her head, pouring the stew into two bowls and walking to Sonny, “If he doesn’t turn up tomorrow you can call someone.” Careful not to spill any on him she handed Sonny the bigger of the two bowls, “For now you can eat this stew I spent an hour making for you and we can watch some movie.” _ __  


* * *

_ Three more weeks and a month had passed. That was when Sonny had called in about his missing friend. He kept a steady tone throughout the entire call, but once they’d hung up Sonny lost it. He shakily slumped back into his bed, tears falling from his eyes and small gasps of air being the only sound coming from the room.  _ _  
_

_ Usnavi must have been able to hear him because he’d quickly rushed into the room the moment Sonny started to cry, sitting next to his younger cousin and rubbing his back lightly, “Hey its okay. They’ll find him Sonny.” _ __  
__  
_ Sonny curled up more and shook his head, “Wh-what if they don’t? What if Pete’s missing forever and they never f-find him ‘Snavi? What if...what if I just never see him again? His art around the city...what if it's never-” His voice cracked and more sobs came out in place of words, “Its been a month…” _ __  
__  
_ “It's been a month without looking for him. They’ll find him and bring him home Sonny.” Usnavi never thought he’d be in the position to talk about Pete this way. Usnavi absolutely despised Pete in every way possible, but seeing Sonny so upset about the absence of Pete made Usnavi a little upset as well. Even if he did despise Pete he never actually wanted the kid gone. It was the same with them each day, ‘Get out of my store’ he’d say, Pete would respect the request and leave. Was it that Usnavi was too hard on Pete? Was that why he’d gone missing? Was it his own fault his cousin was here crying? He shook his head of these thoughts and focused on the present, Sonny needed his help and Usnavi needed to be there to comfort him. He only hoped Pete was found and okay. _ __  


* * *

_ A knock at the door, a confirmation and a small box given over to Usnavi, he wasn’t sure what to do. It was a fairly bland wooden box, not polished, but sanded enough to give it a smooth feeling. His hands shook, placing the box down on the small coffee table in front of the couch. How was he ever going to tell Sonny?  _

* * *

Sonny had kept himself locked up for days until the funeral finally came up. He invited everyone to it, anyone he could really think of. On the bus ride their he thought about what he actually wanted to say about Pete. Sonny wrote out a long speech type thing about him, how he loved him and how Pete’s art was amazing to him. He didn’t like this speech, so he tossed it down in his bag and thought up a different one. Multiple ones. None of them seemed to satisfy him. The bus came to his stop and Sonny lifted his bag off the ground, thanking the driver and making his way to the area in which the funeral was being held. Sadly, Sonny was the only one there. He didn’t have the box of ash buried, he kept that on a small shelf above his bed, but he still had them make a grave for Pete. He deserved it Sonny thought.

  
He made his way to the spot and slowly sat down, “Hey Pete…” he whispered quietly, “How’re you holding up?...sorry thats...thats a stupid question.” Sonny shifted his legs, looking down at his hands, thinking. “You know if it had been me dead you’d probably think of all kinds of things to say. For some reason I can’t think of anything...I can’t say that I don’t know why. I know exactly why I can’t say anything.” He sadly smiled, “It's because words can’t ever describe how amazing you were to me. This stupid stone doesn’t do you justice. Just a name and some words that are meaningless to anyone who comes by. They aren’t meaningless to me though.” tears slowly started to steam down Sonny’s face, his body shaking slightly as he choked on his words, “I-I don’t understand. You told me you’d be safe a-and okay. Why’d you lie to me Pete? M-maybe if...if you just hadn’t gone…” he slowly covered his face with his hands, sobbing, “Y-you just...I won’t e-ever get to see your art again I...I w-won’t get to see you…” his voice broke and his sobs grew louder.    
  
“Sonny…” slowly someone from behind wrapped their arms around the boy's small frame, hugging him tightly as he cried, “Hey now, shh, Pete would never want to see you like this.”   
  
He slowly looked up at the figure behind him, “N-Nina?”   
  
“Yeah Sonny, I’m here. It’’s okay.” she held him, slowly wiping away the tears that moved down his face, “Look at you all choked up. I’m sorry I was late Sonny, but I couldn’t just leave you alone like this to mourn. Pete wouldn’t want to see you like this you know.”   
  
“Y-yeah well he should have thought about that before he left me alone like this...before he died.”   
  
“And how would he have known Sonny? He couldn’t of known he was going to die. Its not his fault.” she nuzzled him softly, “I’m sure if Pete were here he’d be sorry about leaving you so abruptly. But for now we’ll have to go on without him physically here.” she sighed, “But you know what? He’s always here in spirit. And I’m sure his spirit doesn’t want to see you cry.”   
  
Sonny closed his eyes and shakily breathed in, “Y-you’re right. Just like I wouldn’t want Pete to cry if I passed…” he shook his head and wiped away what tears were left on his face, “Th-thanks for coming Nina...it means a lot…probably means a lot to Pete too.”   
  
“Anything for you Sonny and anything for our artist.”   
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yet another request because for some reason someone thought if I killed Sonny I might as well kill Pete.  
> I'm not going to write any death for awhile after this one. Took me a long time to actually write and finish it. Tell me what you think and point out any typos so I know to fix because I sometimes don't catch them even when I go through it multiple times.
> 
> Tumblr: Graffiti-Sonny


End file.
